Where the Heart Is
by Ruphira
Summary: What is home? Not what Jill expects to find when she returns to Forget-Me-Not Valley to tie up some "loose ends": namely, the farm her sister lazed off on for a year. Maybe she never meant to stay, but like many things in life, that is subject to change..
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: Hello! This is just a short little chapter of a longfic I'm thinking of doing. It'll have a romance element later, I'm just not sure with whom xD! Anyway, hopefully you enjoy it. :)**

**Disclaimer: I own NOTHING.**

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If she had been listening closely, she would have heard the songbirds, newly arrived from the south, chirruping high above her head with the rising of the sun. If she had been rational, she would have dropped her luggage and run straight inside the dirty, broken-hearted home before indecision could paralyze her.

But she wasn't listening closely, and she wasn't rational either. Instead, she remained frozen in place just on the border of the farm, her violet eyes glued to the expanse of weedy, stump-ridden, flaky _mess _that was her field. To the rundown collection of boards and a roof that resembled something like a house; the rotting foundation of what might have once been a barn. She sighed.

It was New Year's Day—barely. Walking hastily through town, grateful for the cover of night, she'd heard echoing remnants of shouting and laughter from the beach as the townsfolk wrapped up their New Year's Eve celebration. Now, it was early morning—_very _early— and she remembered well enough to know that there would be another festival later on in the day to welcome the New Year.

It seemed the people here did a lot of celebrating, but as she looked out at the wreckage that she expected to be living on for however long it took, Jill failed to fathom _why_. She must have been missing something. Something…big.

Reluctantly, she hefted up her single suitcase and willed herself to take the first step onto the old farm.

"Jill. Good to see you. Life been good to you lately?"

The brunette jolted in place, startled at the suddenness of the rough voice. When she turned toward the balding, stubble-chinned speaker as he clomped through the grass to greet her, a towel resting on his broad, exposed shoulders, it only took her a second to recognize him—and immediately fly into his arms.

"_Takakura! _Thank IGNIS you're still here!" she babbled into his shoulder as the older man staggered backwards, patting her back awkwardly. "When I heard about—the farm, and—and Casey—I thought it would be all me and I was so stressed out and I thought I would never ever—"

"Jill."

She knew that tone. Immediately, the brunette drew away, rubbing an arm and smiling sheepishly. "Yeah, I know, sorry. I'm just so happy to see you! I can't believe you haven't retired yet and moved to Toucan Island or something!"

The farming veteran raised a shoulder in half a shrug, scrutinizing her somehow with his sharp, slanted eyes. "Thought about it. Decided my place is here. Especially since you've got some loose ends to tie up, girl."

Jill grimaced and ran a pale hand through her high ponytail. "I know. But then—we can finally sell the place and move onto bigger and better things. Both of us." She was determined that it wouldn't take long; then, she could leave the farm and everything else behind for once and for all.

Takakura gave her an odd look. "I s'pose." He turned to gaze out critically over the field. "I won't be much help, 'fraid. And Casey made a right mess o' most of it."

"I can tell," Jill grumbled, wrinkling her nose slightly. "Seems like I'm still cleaning up after her, huh?"

The man beside her chuckled somewhere low in his throat, a sound that Jill hadn't heard in years. "Let's get you moved in." Beside him, the sprightly brunette nodded reluctantly and grabbed the handle of her suitcase.

For some reason, she didn't relish the thought of living under that particular leaky roof, or sharing a closet with all those skeletons.

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**A/N: Read it to the end? ^^ yay!  
><strong>**I know it doesn't give very many details-it wasn't supposed to. And it's about 5 times shorter than my usual chapters, so they WILL get longer. Hmm...yeah! Thanks for reading ^^ I hope you enjoyed this snippet! And please drop off a review if you get a chance, I'd like to know if there's interest.**

**Thanks again! :)**


	2. Chapter 2

There were a lot of words you could use to describe Casey at first glance.

Carefree. Sunny. Dreamy.

Breezy, flighty, energetic, bold._Beautiful._

Looking at Jill, you might have considerably less to say—not because there's less to her, exactly, but because you might just struggle more to put her into a sentence; she's more withdrawn. You'd probably end up comparing her to her little sister, noticing her hair is a few shades darker than Casey's tawny locks, her chin less pixie-like, and her eyes…

…Well, she did have lovely purple eyes.

Not that the Witch could tell, seeing as Jill was...you know...sleeping. The tumbling-curled blonde stood pensively over her bed, considering the various options available to rouse a sleeping human. She could tap her shoulder, or shake her gently, or poke her in the cheek, or...

Or do something far less subtle. Throwing both her hands down on the thin mattress, the red-eyed woman leaned over Jill's sleeping form and shouted into her ear as she fumbled into consciousness.

"_**WAKE UP, SLEEPY-HEAD!**_"

"_AAARGHH!_"

Eyes snapping open, Jill flipped over onto her side, arms flailing, and managed to clobber the witch in the face. She threw her comforter and sheets around her while she was stunned before tackling the blanket-cocooned form to the floor and holding it down, panting.

"Who…are….you?" she gasped out, trembling. Typical…her first day back on the farm and some crazy-haired Goth woman was trying to rob her! As if she even had anything in the run-down old shack worth stealing.

The town must be in _really _bad shape, she mused as she restrained the wriggling intruder, if thieves were resorting to burglarizing abandoned farms…

The woman suddenly stopped struggling. Jill sat up, slightly suspicious; why wasn't she fight—

—and then she realized that her blankets were dissolving.

With a small, horrified whimper, Jill leapt away from the woman as though she had the plague. "What—WHAT ARE YOU DOING? Sss-_stop!"_

The blonde ignored her and Jill watched with wide eyes as her comfy old navy blue duvet disintegrated into little fiery particles and flaked away to reveal the perfectly still, focused-looking thief beneath. The brunette's eyes bugged.

"Ohmygawdess, what are you, a _witch?"_

The woman's eyes flicked lazily open and she stared Jill down unnervingly with her piercing, blood-red gaze. She _loved _when people asked that question; her lips curled into a smile as she answered. "Why, yes…yes I am."

Jill didn't react in awe the way the Witch Princess expected her to. Instead, she grabbed a large hammer that was leaning against the wall and held it over her shoulder, trembling, as she slowly advanced towards her. "I don't c-care _what _you are, you get out of my house RIGHT NOW or so help me I will s-smash you to a pulp! AND YOU OWE ME A NEW BLANKET, that was my ONLY ONE!"

The Witch Princess stood up and dusted off her heavy dark robes, pretending to be unfazed—although in truth, Jill _was _scaring her a little. She wished Casey were still here instead; _Casey _hadn't wanted to pummel her into the floorboards on their first meeting! Casey had thought it was super-cool that she was a witch!

Then again, Casey had failed her mission. But still, she was much easier to get along with…

"Hey, whoa whoa whoa," the witch said, backing slowly away. "Chill out, girl! I come in peace and stuff! Put the hammer down!"

"You burned up my blanket!" Jill accused, still wielding the hammer imposingly. "And what are you doing in my house? !"

"I came to-hey now," Witch said, placing her hands on her hips. "You were the one that attacked me first!"

"Bite me!" Jill seethed. She took another step closer. "Get off my property so I won't have to use this!"

The Witch Princess took one step back and then froze, her mouth slightly ajar. "Are you _seriously _related to Casey?" she demanded. This tough, unwelcoming brunette was a far cry from her light-haired, breezy alleged sister. The Witch couldn't fathom how they could have come from the same family.

Jill's steps faltered; something in her eyes changed. "How do you know who I am?"

The Witch's eyes glinted. "Oh, I have my ways..." she said mysteriously, sashaying around Jill to sit on a rickety chair by the table. "And by the way, sweetie, you aren't terribly intimidating in your nightgown."

The brunette's nostrils flared. She was just wearing an old, oversized T-shirt. "You seemed pretty intimidated," she countered wryly. "And who invited you to sit down? I still don't know who you are or trust you."

"Really?" the witch asked, leaning an elbow on the table. "What do you think I am, a thief? You seriously think you have something in this place I might want? Or anyone would want, for that matter?"

Sighing, Jill let the comment pass and rested the head of the hammer on the floor. She eyed the woman's get-up. "So, what do you want? I don't appreciate you barging into my house uninvited and shouting in my face..."

The blonde gestured grandly. "I am called the Witch Princess," she announced, "and have brought you greetings from the Harvest King." She flipped open a small satchel attached to the belt at her waist and produced a letter, which she proffered to the brunette.

Jill took it and raised a cynical eyebrow at the woman. "Oh, you're a witch and a princess and you have a message from a king. That flipping explains _everything."_

The Witch's scarlet eyes narrowed. "You're really nothing like Casey, are you?"

Jill looked up from inspecting the envelope. "No," she said sharply, "I'm not. And guess what, Casey's not here anymore, okay?"

The blonde gestured dismissively. "Whatever. Just open it."

Jill tore the envelope down the side and pulled out a plain, unadorned white page. The letters were printed in a rushed, spidery hand and formed in a script-like, almost archaic fashion, the way someone might write English after first learning an older, rarer tongue.

_Jill,_

_You may think that you're only here to tie up the farm's loose ends so you can sell it, and certainly you're not excited to be back. But I assure you that you have been called to return for a far more profound and urgent reason: the Harvest is endangered, and thereby all of nature's forces are as well._

_The Harvest Goddess is not a fairy tale, Jill, and once in the face of great sadness she retreated to another world. We first called upon your sister to aid us in this time of need, by restoring vitality to the heart of the Harvest - yes, Shire Farm. Your home. A place once sacred to the Goddess. Unfortunately, Casey could not fulfill her duties. You have now been called upon, and the burden is yours._

_You once believed, as many children do, in the Harvest Goddess. Now you must revive that belief, because her crisis is yours. She is your mother._

_Time is short and need is great. Casey can tell you more. Work the farm, restore it to its former glory, and perhaps a Harvest Goddess will again grace your world._

_All the best, _

_The Harvest King_

A few moments of silence passed after Jill had finished reading. The Witch watched her carefully as her violet eyes flickered repeatedly over the page, in a near-panicked manner, widening.

_Unbelievable. _

The letter trembled in her small hands.

_No. It's all wrong. This is some kind of sick joke. _

She slowly lowered it the page and looked straight back at the Witch. "What are you playing at?"

"Don't look at me, I'm just the messenger!" the blonde retorted.

Jill let the letter drift to the ground. "This is ridiculous and I don't want any part of it. You can't just walk in here and tell me my dead mother's actually a goddess and I need to do all this crap, okay? I'm here to restore the farm so we can sell it and I can forget about this part of my life. You can leave now," she added, holding the door open.

The Witch remained seated. "Oh, this is interesting!" she giggled. "You don't believe in the Harvest Goddess, do youuuu?"

"No, not that it's any of your business," Jill sighed. "Please leave my house."

The Witch giggled harder. "Oh the irooonnyyy! The Goddess's own _daughter! _Well, hehe, one of them, anyway...Casey believed!"

"That's _fantastic,_" Jill snapped. "Go now." But even as the words left her mouth, she wondered...how this woman knew about the relation between herself and the ranch's former owner, Casey. She was certain nobody knew that the farm was going to be under new management in the New Year, let alone that it would be taken over by Casey's sister.

The blonde woman, still grinning, finally stood. "Oh, alright, I'm going. But you're going to have to come with me. Get dressed."

"Why should I go anywhere with you?" Jill asked tiredly. "If you haven't noticed, I do have a farm to work on and all..."

"I'm going to make you believe in the Harvest Goddess again."


End file.
